BY TEWODROS KASSA
Ethiopia embraces numerous mountains and hills that could be a greater potential for attracting more local and international tourists for hiking and adventure. The Simien Mountain National Park and the Bale Mountains National Park are among the leading tourist destinations for hiking in the country. The topography of the mountains, biodiversity, availability of endemic mammals and birds, among others are the other blessings of the mountains to entertain during your visit.
During the 1920s, a traveler known as Rosita Forbes described the Simien Mountains National Park as the most marvelous of all Abyssinian landscapes. Its stupendous crags and gorges of clouded amethyst rising to 4,533m at Ras Dejen also known as Ras Dashen (Africa’s fifth-highest mountain), remains the most popular trekking destination in Ethiopia.
Recently, the Mountain Hambaricho 777 Stairs, located in Durame Town, Kembata Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ State (SNNPS), has gained momentum through providing memorable hiking adventure to international and local tourists.
The area’s tourist inflow is booming immediately after the accomplishment of this man-made Hambaricho 777 stairs. This tourist destination significantly stimulates tourism and opens new income opportunities to the local communities. Moreover, the surrounding environment is green throughout the year. “It refreshes soul and mind, and rejuvenate life with new hopes,” visitors said.
Hambaricho 777 Stairs is found within a short distance from the Town of Durame. In the summer, the peak of this mountain is covered by snow, but at the time when the sun is scorching, its appearance will be visible to the eye from the bottom to the top. Hambaricho, before the Hambaricho 777 Stairway was built and it became a tourist attraction, was an inaccessible mountain. Since the end of 2020, mounting stairs have been built on the mountain, allowing visitors to walk to the top of Mount Hambaricho within the shortest time possible and enjoy it.
Hambaricho Ecotourism Bureau Manager and Tourism Sector Coordinator Abinet Tadeg told the Ethiopian Press Agency (EPA) that he has never tired of narrating the story and natural grace of mountain Hambaricho to every visitor who recurrently visit the site. According to him, the definition of Hambaricho is derived from two words in Kembata. Based on this, Hamba means location and richo means sun; together, they give the location of the sun, which would mean the plateau of the sun. The reason for this is that the sun is visible to a person on the mountain before dawn and after nightfall.
Thus, a person who is at the mountain, compared to a person in Durame Town, can see the sun up to 20 minutes earlier in the morning. At night, after sunset in Durame, a person who is at the mountain can see the sun up to 20 minutes earlier. Abinet cited this as a justification portraying the height of the location. To reach the foot of the mountain from the Town of Durame, it is only eight kilometers away. It is also possible to go to the top of Hambaricho through the stairs, and the stair alone is about 680 meters long. After the end of Hambaricho’s 777 stairways, the next walk is through the beautiful groves of stair-less mountains.
“Environmental features that fill the soul with excitement make the visitors forget their tiredness. At the top of that mountain, there is a house called Kitosi Fedu (the Door of Christ). There is also a wide valley at the top of the Hambaricho Mountain. From the end of the 777 stairs to reach to the top of the mountain, it is a 1.7 kilometers hiking up the mountain,” he said. The higher the altitude keeping the scene of the mountain, the more gorgeous the area would be. It also creates a comfortable environment to see the surroundings, full views of the town of Durame, Angacha district, and the beautiful Kembata farms are displayed, as they are all the district towns in the Kembata Tembaro Zone. Sodo City is outside of Kembata Tembaro Zone; the towns of Hossana and Alaba are also partially visible.
He further said that foreign visitors who would particularly like the biodiversity of the area visit the place; nearly 1,000 foreign visitors, have visited the place since the mountain staircases were built. Various tourists come to the mountain and pitch their tents on top of it. And at night, they go from one end of the mountain to the other and observe different mesmerizing places. The mountain has seven ecologically distinct peaks. The diversity of ecosystems on all the seven peaks is one of the reasons for attracting more visitors. A variety of wild animals, including cheetahs, are found around. There are also various endemic and other species of birds. Biodiversity is also abundant there.
The area is frequently visited by domestic tourists as well as foreign ones who enjoy watching wildlife. The site has been visited by more than 370,000 visitors, including 1,000 foreign visitors, since the stairways were built and opened to tourists. “Visitors compare the site to the Great Wall of China. So far, according to the Bureau, there has not been mountain road built in Africa compared with the 777 stairway, and it is one of the mountain roads in Africa. At the international level, China, America, Singapore, and other countries have them. From this point of view, it is ranked seventh in the world,” said Abinet.
As Trip Ethiopia posted in its webpage, Hambaricho is one of the highest mountains in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) State. The mountain has a lot of historical, cultural, and spiritual significance to the local Kambata community. It is believed that the first seven kinship groups of the ethnic group of the Kambata lived on Mount Hambaricho from ancient times, and the Kambatas still refer to these groups as “Hambaricho Lamala” (the seven kin-groups of Kambata) as the original/founding groups of the Kambata. In sum, hiking is good throughout the year in Ethiopia. However, the scenery is at it’s best for hiking from late September until December after the rainy months and when the countryside turns green.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 2 JUNE 2023
